


A Tiny Little Problem

by Enderon



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, but mostly it's just an excuse for lots and lots of fluff, i mean REALLY self-indulgent, mostly just senseless fluff, one of ym favorite fic cliches, there's a basic plot, this is really self-indulgent fic, this isnt set at any specific time in canon, thought def after the defeat of the briarwoods
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 12:52:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11291100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enderon/pseuds/Enderon
Summary: Scanlan gets turned into a baby by a warlock and Vox Machina can't figure out how to turn him back.That's it, that's the story.





	A Tiny Little Problem

Really, all of this shouldn't have been so surprising, considering how weird and out of the box magic could be, especially in the wrong hands.

Vox Machina had traveled to Westrunn, receiving word that there was a coven of corrupted Warlocks just outside the city that had been terrorizing the residents and travels to and form for quite some time. Being the heroes that they were, Vox Machina had eagerly accepted the challenge and offered their aid, going to the forest and seeking out their prey.

It didn't take them very long to find them.

It also didn't take very long for them to realize just how big a threat these warlocks were.

They were throwing out spell, after spell, after spell; very high leveled stuff that took many years of practice to perform. It was hard work going against them, thankfully they were far better distance fighters than anything up close, and Grog tended to make quick work of them whenever he could get close enough to do so.

They would probably have had a much harder time were it not for Scanlan throwing counter spells at the more damaging spells, earning himself lots of distaste and specific targeting from the warlocks for his efforts. Thankfully, he didn't seem all that bothered by the damage he was receiving, continuously giving them a cheeky grin and a middle finger.

One of the warlocks, seemingly done with the gnome's antics, muttered something under their breath and sent a bolt of energy towards Scanlan. At first, the gnome looked unaffected, looking over to give Vex a cocky grin, before he suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Vex yelled out his name, and when the smoke cleared, only his clothes remained, lying on the ground.

"Scanlan's gone!" She yelled into her earing, hoping someone had an idea of what might have happened.

"Shit! It was probably a plane shift!" Keyleth swore, swinging her staff around to release a fireball into a cluster that had grouped together.

"I don't know. His clothes are still here."

"Whatever happened, we'll deal with it once we deal with these guys!" Percy piped in, taking a shot with Bad News, managing to take out two of the warlocks.

They were down to only three left, and seeing the state of their numbers, they seemed to finally take a hint and vanished.

"Should we try to follow them?" Keyleth wondered, looking at the spot where they had disappeared from.

"We can worry about that later," with quick speed, Vax moved over to stand next to Vex who was looking at the pile of pink and purple cloth where once their friend stood, "Right now, we have a bigger problem on our hands."

"I can try a scrying spell, just to see if he's still on this plane." Keyleth offered, but as she closed her eyes to concentrate, they heard a very strange sound.

It was high pitched and unintelligible, and it seemed to be coming from the pile of Scanlan's clothes.

They all looked at each other, before Pike moved forwards to look, seeing there seemed to be something under the cloth, moving around. Lifting up his shirt, she let out a loud gasp.

"What, what is it?" Grog asked, his axe at the ready in case it was another threat.

Standing back up, Pike turned around to reveal something cradled in her arms. Something very, very small, and very distinctly humanoid.

The other five members of Vox Machina could only gawk in mute surprise, none of them able to find the words to suggest their thoughts.

"Is that….. Scanlan?" Vex finally asked, stepping forward to kneel down, reaching forward to touch a hand to the baby gnome's face. Whether it was or wasn't their friend, he seemed delighted at the gesture, babbling happily and grabbing one of her fingers in a tang hand.

"I think so." Pike admitted. She was staring at the little thing in her arms, a weird look on her face.

"Thank goodness it wasn't a transportation spell," Keyleth seemed relieved, though also just as awe struck as the others, "We can probably just greater restoration him and he'll be good as new."

"Right." Placing the infant on the ground, to an annoyed sounded noise from said infant, Pike touched a gauntleted hand to the top of his tiny little head, filled with little brown curls, and muttered the incantation under her breath. She felt the energy move about her, proving that the spell had been done, but nothing about the tiny little gnome seemed to change. He just continued to look up at her and everyone else with big, brown eyes.

"It, didn't work." She breathed, looking between her hand and Scanlan.

"Why not? Doesn't greater restoration usually work for these sorts of things?" Vex looked a little panicked; though it didn't seem like he was in any pain, not knowing how to fix him was very concerning.

"Usually, but some spells require something else," Keyleth looked bothered, "Magic is weird and complicated like that."

"Well, why don't we head back to Whitestone and see if we can find anything about what this may be?" Percy suggested, trying to look uninterested, though his eyes kept swiveling to look at the babbling infant.

"Not today. I'm all out of juice." The druid held out her hands, palms up in a surrendering gesture.

"Then we'll just make camp for the night and head back tomorrow," while everyone else seemed pretty bothered, Vax didn't seem the slightest bit perturbed, walking forwards to scoop the baby gnome up and into his arms, "I'm sure it won't do him any harm to stay like this for one night."

They all agreed and so set about making a camp for the night, lamenting the loss of Scanlan's mansion to sleep in. While the others worked, Vax sat on the ground and entertained said gnome, looking absolutely delighted at his squeals of delight and infantile babbling.

"He's so small," he commented as Grog approached the two of them, "So tiny."

"Well, e is a gnome, and gnomes are all pretty small." Grog agreed. His attention was completely on the tiny gnome in Vax's lap, his eyes wide with a hopeful little gleam in them. Vax seemed to notice this and held the infant up towards him.

"Wanna hold him?" He asked.

Grog seemed frightened by the suggestion, holding his hands up to separate them.

"I don't know about that," he insisted, looking rather sorry at what he was saying, "E's real small and I don't wanna hurt im."

"Aw, come on big guy. I trust you not to hurt him more than anyone else." Vax gave a comforting look, and used one hand to pull Grog's hands flat, and the other to place the tiny gnome in one, giant palm.

Looking like a frightened deer, Grog raised the hand up to his face so that he could be eye to eye with Scnalan. The little gnome tipped his head to the side in confusion for a moment, before letting out a happy squeal and pressing himself against Grog's beard, stretching his arms out in something of a hug.

At this, Grog's smile stretched over his entire face, and a tear came to his eye.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter was short, cause I was setting everything up and just wanted to get to the cute stuff. The other chapters will be longer, I assure you.


End file.
